JOSHUA — The March 22 opening of Joshua ISD’s new middle school will pave the way for continued construction and renovation in the district, specifically at the present Loflin Middle School, which will become the ninth-grade center.

School trustees learned in Monday night’s meeting that finishing touches are being applied at the Caddo Grove structure with the first day of school five weeks away.

“The second gym floor needs to be installed,” said Superintendent Ray Dane said. “We need to install bleachers in the big gym, put in tile in halls and classrooms in part of the building, install ceiling tile in part of the building, lay carpet in the band hall and library, and distribute furniture to the various classrooms.

“We still need to install some of the lighting. The kitchen equipment is almost installed. The major construction is done. We’ll have a certificate of occupancy before we move in. We should get that the first week of March.”

Certification depends on detailed inspections.

“Different people inspect different things,” Dane said. “They look at utilities and plumbing, make sure equipment is safely installed and functioning. They’ve already looked at the masonry and steel. They’ll look at the fire alarm system. We’ll have a certain number of days to get the landscaping finished.

“The inspections have to do with student and staff safety. We’ll have done what the inspectors want done.”

Because the new middle school is located in Burleson, city of Burleson inspectors are eyeballing the project.

“They’ve been very helpful,” Dane said. “They’ve worked with us very well.”

Joshua ISD had originally hoped to open the new school after the Christmas break. Weather prevented that from happening.

That left the district the option of opening next summer or this spring.

It was a simple choice because of the need to vacate the present middle school.

“We can’t do anything at Loflin until we get the middle schoolers moved,” Dane said. “There was some sentiment to wait until the new school year to open the new middle school, but that wouldn’t have given us enough time to revamp Loflin for the ninth grade center.”

Dane told the board that the middle school athletic facility, including an eight-lane track, will cost about $750,000.

“For what we’re building, I think that’s a good price,” he said. “We’ll be doing a lot of the work ourselves. We’ll buy the concession stand and install it and finish it out. We’re using the lights from the old stadium. They’ve been checked and certified as safe. We’re using some of the old stadium bleachers and revamping them so they’ll look nice. We’ll build our own press box.”

A new boys and girls fieldhouse at the high school is expected to cost $2.75 million. It will be 31,500 square feet.

When it’s occupied, the Junior ROTC program will move to the old field house.

“Our dressing rooms were completely inadequate,” Dane said. “Our weight rooms were completely inadequate. We have too many kids for not enough space. We had to have more facilities, and we needed a place to move ROTC so they have more adequate facilities.”

Construction continues on a fine arts addition at the high school.

“We plan to have that finished and ready for use at the start of next school year,” Dane said. “We’ll also work on a big hall in the front entrance that will stretch from the auditorium across the front of the high school. There will be a big entrance with a lecture hall, which will be accessible to outside groups while still maintaining security for inside the building. We had a lecture hall, but when we expanded our library, we incorporated the lecture hall into the library. The new lecture hall will be bigger and more functional.”

In board business, the trustees voted against accepting public education grant transfers from underperforming districts but said prospective transfer students could apply for admission through standard channels.

“We have a policy that allows us to take transfer students from out of district for a fee if they meet certain performance-based conditions,” Dane said. “The state allows PEG transfers to go from low-performing districts to different schools [if those schools accept them]. We will not accept any PEG transfers. We will allow them to apply as regular out-of-district transfers.”

The  board also voted to allow district facilities to be named for living or deceased individuals, with the emphasis on the latter.

“Two former students were asking about the policy, and this will give us some guidance,” Dane said. “It still leaves control to the board on naming facilities or parts of facilities.”

The board also honored Joshua High senior Dylan Richardson, a four-year all-state band member. Joshua mayor Merle Breitenstein declared Monday to be Dylan Richardson Day and awarded him a certificate.

Place 5 board incumbent Myra Pruitt filed for re-election. Place 5 incumbent Brant Rose has also filed, and Taffy Ward filed for Place 6 to fill a seat vacated by former board member Paula Palmer.